


Swapping Bodies

by lilnaugrim



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Magic, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 19:24:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3907738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilnaugrim/pseuds/lilnaugrim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In where Tony Stark and Steve Rogers end up swapping bodies and have to deal with their anger-fueled relationship. Will they ever turn back to their regular bodies?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swapping Bodies

                Fighting. They were always fighting.

  "Tony, where's my pencil? I set it down on the table and now it's not there," Steve folded his arms and glared at his teammate. "Tony, wake up!" Steve slammed his fist down on the table scaring Tony into alertness.

  "Jesus Steve, didn't you see I was trying to take a damn nap?!" Tony snarled back at him, the pencil dropping from the side of his head where it had stuck to when he laid his head down on it by accident. Steve went over and snatched up the table.

  "When are you going to learn that you need a full night's sleep to function Tony?" Steve angrily scribbled something down on a pad.

  "I take naps, naps are good, I can survive off coffee and a nap," Tony glared back as he rubbed his face and drank from his coffee that had gone cold since it had been ignored.

  "Survive Tony, not _live_ ," Steve stalked around to find some dinner out of the fridge. Tony watched him pull out the leftovers from Clint's lunch and start to microwave it. Over the few months that Steve had been at the Avenger's Mansion, he'd been taught how to use the tech.

  "I _am_ living; fuck you very much, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to work!" Tony finished off his coffee and went up but was suddenly wrenched back down by an un-seeable force. He was shoved back into his chair by Steve who had caught him by the collar of his shirt.

  "Hey, watch it! I'm not getting any younger you know!" Tony growled at him.

  "Stay put, you are going to eat Tony," Steve glared at him and when the microwave dinged he began to split the Chinese onto two different plates.

                Tony had spent most of his day in the workshop; he'd been rebuilding a new suit. The last version of the latest model had unfortunately been crushed and made into a tea pot and platter graciously by Magneto when they had last run in by accident. Steve's shield had also been taken from him and turned into tiny cups for the tea pot. Since then Steve had been more on edge as he waited for Tony to rebuild the shield so he could feel safe again. Tony knew about Cap's insecurities about the shield and thought it was ridiculous but, who could blame him?

                Tony was taken out of thought when a plate clattered in front of him and he crinkled his nose in retaliation, not that it didn't smell good.

  "I'm not hungry Steve," he pouted like a child. He was only retaliating because it was Cap, he wouldn’t dare say no to Nat if she was making him eat.

  "Eat it Tony, you're not leaving here until you do!" Steve sat down at the head of the table, two chairs from Tony. Tony poked at the chicken remembering his aching ribs and why he wasn't really hungry.

                Steve had come down into the workshop earlier in the day, asking about the shield but Tony had brushed him off. The fight ensued and Tony ended up knocked to the floor when Steve lashed out. He knew Steve felt even more worse about the whole situation now that he'd hurt Tony but he'd stormed out of the workshop before anything else could happen. Tony figured he'd gone off to draw or something since that's just what Steve did. Steve also had a good eye for detail, so it only made sense when he picked up that Tony was remembering the tussle.

  "Look, Tony I'm sorry about this morning, I didn't mean to hurt you," Steve started, "You just infuriate me sometimes, Tony…but I shouldn't have done that and I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Steve asked. Tony was sure that the bags under his eyes were showing and that his face was morphing into something angrier as he thought of Steve's words.

  "No, Steve, I'm not fucking okay; you fucking threw me across my damn workshop! I don't fucking heal like you do!" Tony slammed his fist near the plate and stood up quickly to retreat to his workshop.

                Tony punched in the code furiously and entered his workshop as JARVIS turned the lights on and lit up the holograms he'd had up before.

  "God—fucking—hell, shit!" Tony started to pace in front of the holograms as he thought about Steve. He'd been crushing on him since he moved into the mansion, well that wasn't entirely true. He'd been jerking off to Captain America since he was just a boy and all those fantasies in his head were so close to coming true if it weren't for the factor of the duo fighting so much.

  "Why am I such a fuck up?!" Tony screamed and kicked Dummy who was chirping nervously, "I can't do anything right! I'm a fuck up at everything," Tony sobbed as he leaned over his work desk and buried his head in his arms. He was thinking about everything at once and it was giving him a headache.

  "Sir, may I remind you that you programmed Dum-e, Butterfingers, and myself," JARVIS offered up.

  "Is this your way of trying to make me feel less bad about myself?" Tony growled at his AI.

  "Indeed sir, shall I order some more Bourbon? You currently only have half a bottle left," the AI knew his creator so well and Tony huffed at him.

  "No, god no," Tony started to whisper as he sat back in his chair as he rubbed his chest where Steve had bruised him pretty bad. "I don't want to drink anymore, I don't want to be…bad," Tony let his tears loose as he reflected upon himself. All the wrong he'd done in his past was catching up to him and it pained his broken heart every time he looked at Steve Rogers. What he wouldn't give to be Steve just for one day to see how it was like to be pure and so innocent.

  "You know, I used to want to be Captain America…" Tony looked at the sole picture on his desk of his mother. Dum-e came back over with a tissue and he smiled at his robot. "Well…every kid wanted to be Captain America, that was just the thing back then," he huffed and tilted his head. "But me," he huffed, "I was different…my father _made_ Captain America and then never shut up about him. I remember stories that he'd used to tell me after he was already drunk, he'd show me pictures if I was lucky and god…I wanted to be him so bad. Maybe it was to finally feel good about myself because I'd know I wasn't such a fuck up. He'd appreciate me if I was Captain America and not Anthony Stark, his son. I wanted to be the good guy and save the world, I wanted to fight the Nazi's and win the heart of some beautiful chick or whatever it was he did…" Tony reminisced and it only made him angrier.

  "How the hell am I supposed to talk to the guy that I've been pining over for years?! He just suddenly pops up and I'm supposed to be okay with this and be all happy and hold his hand and teach him about the damned twenty first century?!" Tony slammed his fist down again and let the sting ring through his hand as he clenched his jaw.

  "Sir, may I remind you that you did agree to teach him about the twenty first century?" JARVIS reminded and Tony leaned back in his chair.

  "Yeah only because Fury was fucking breathing down my neck like a crazed bull, the son of a bitch! Why couldn't Rogers just go out in the world and stop bothering me?!"

  "You find him bothersome? My monitors would suggest otherwise."

  "JARVIS, you'd better stop being all cocky ass on me or I will rewire you and I mean it this time!" Tony yelled at him and the AI stayed silent. Dum-e came back over with a fresh cup of coffee and Tony gratefully took it and relished in the warmth.

                So Tony had a few issues; he was in love with Captain America. He didn't know how to approach him about this even though he was Tony Fucking Stark. He fought because that was the only thing left his brain could handle when Steve Rogers walked in the room. All of these things he hated to think about but his mind wouldn't shut up about it.

                Finally around midnight when Tony was done brewing in his sorrows he laid down on the couch. He looked down at his bruising knuckles; he had taken his anger out on his workshop desk, left quite a dent in it too. He brought the knuckles to his mouth and gently sucked on one of the bruises. His tongue and saliva felt cool in contrast to his heated hand and he sighed, there was probably going to be hell to pay in the morning if Cap ever found out. For now, he'd just take a nap and forget his worries.

\--

                Eyes open. Steve blinked and then breathed out as if he had been holding a breath. Something was different. Eyes shut.  Dreamland was a confusing place to be. Eyes open. Steve's eyes focused and when he looked up it wasn't his ceiling anymore. In fact, it wasn't his bed or his room at all, it was Tony's workshop. He cursed internally, he had probably slept walked into the workshop and he shuttered thinking about what Tony would do with a half awake Captain America.

                Chirping. Steve looked to his side to see Dummy's hand swiveling as if he was confused, he saw Steve and chirped again, happier this time. Steve smiled and held his hand out to pet at Dummy's head and suddenly stopped. This wasn't his hand. Steve turned the hand and surveyed it, he was certain that this hand belonged to one Tony Stark. Steve sat up quicker than he had in a long time and instantly regretted it when he felt a pain shoot up his back and his ribs ache when he breathed in deep. He laid down again realized it was the couch in the workshop, no doubt Tony slept here when he didn't go upstairs.

  "Tony?" Steve called out and stopped at his voice, it wasn't his voice either. Steve looked down at himself to see Tony's body; Steve could feel his heart rate speed up in confusion. There was a something warm sitting on his chest; he realized it was the arc reactor. Steve wanted to scream, his hands came up to touch his face. Sure enough he found a goatee and mustache as well as longer black hair attached to his head.

  "Sir, is everything in order?" JARVIS asked and Steve looked up to the ceiling to find one of JARVIS's many cameras.

  "I—uh, oh wow this is weird, uh…JARVIS I don't know what's going on, am I dreaming?" Steve asked as he slowly sat up and leaned against the back of the couch. He looked down to his toes and wiggled them, he was completely in control of Tony's body, and his mind couldn't comprehend this right now.

  "Sir, I need more information. My monitors are recording an increased heart rate and the normal fatigue; shall I run a full body scan?" JARVIS replied and Steve shook his head.

  "Look, I don't know what's going on, but I'm not Tony—I'm Steve!" Steve put a hand to his forehead, did he have a fever? Suddenly Steve had a revelation and he jumped off the couch before the AI could reply and bounded up the stairs even with the protest in his back. What if Tony was in Steve's body? Oh god, what would Tony be doing right now? Steve couldn't think as he ran and took the stairs three at a time as opposed to his normal four. It was frustrating that his legs were shorter again.

  "Tony!" Tony's voice rang out as Steve entered his room. He hadn't gotten used to this at all yet and it still surprised him when he heard Tony's voice and not his. He was, however, extremely thankful that his body was still sleeping which meant Tony hadn't gotten to do anything with it yet.

  "Tony, come on, wake up," Steve went to the bedside and shook the broad shoulders. He felt very self-conscious about seeing his body lie there; he could see why Tony liked him better when he was asleep. But Tony slowly woke up and looked up at the ceiling like Steve would do every morning before he got up to jog. Then his eyes switched to Steve in Tony's form and Steve could see the alarm written all over his face.

  "I must still be dreaming—oh, I have his voice to…okay this is weird. Other me, what's going on?" Tony said when he was finally awake and fully confused.

  "Tony, it's me, Steve," Steve said and Tony just stared at him.

  "Yeah, yup I'm dreaming, totally dreaming, I'm going back to sleep now," Tony tried to roll over but Steve caught his shoulder and kept him down.

  "Tony, you're not dreaming because then if you are and then I am and I really don't know what to think about all this…oh…did that make sense?" Steve wore a very confused face as Tony looked up at him.

  "So you woke up in my body and I'm in yours?" Tony asked and Steve nodded, a grin was starting to grow on Tony's face and Steve was regretting this whole thing. Tony quickly went to throw back the sheets to look at Steve's body but Steve caught the sheet and pinned them to the pronounced abs that were in front of him.

  "Please Tony, don't—"

  "Got something to hide Capsicle? God, your voice is so much deeper," Tony made a face of discomfort as he felt at his throat and gave up on the sheets.

  "No, I just don't want you exploiting my body; this whole thing is already making me uncomfortable," Steve felt a small blush creeping up into his cheeks. He had seriously thought that Tony's body was incapable of blushing but here he was proved wrong.

  "Steve I'm not going—you really think I'm going to abuse this body—your body!? Steve I just wanted to look, besides I'm going to have to at one point or another so you'll have to accept that unless you don't want me ever going to the bathroom or taking a shower," Tony stated and Steve knew he was going to but he'd still rather not be there when it happened.

  "Did you do anything weird last night? Loki come visit or something? Seems like something that he'd do," Steve sat in the chair next to the bed and Tony moved to his side to look at Steve.

  "Uh no, I was mad…but I—no, nothing happened," Tony admitted and Steve flicked his eyes in a glance towards him before looking down at his hand which was in pain.

  "Tony, did you punch something last night?" Steve stared in disgust and he could hear Tony huff as if he knew this was coming. "Tony, why did you do that? You could have broken your hand and then where would you be? You can't do anything when you've got a broken—"

  "Cap, just don't," Tony cut him off and sat up, anger written on his face now. Steve stayed quiet and just looked at his former body and how he longed to just be himself.

  "Forget it Tony, you wouldn't understand anyway," Steve got up and left to the kitchen.

\--

                Tony sat there on the bed, his wish had come true he realized. He looked down at his arms, Steve's arms. He ran his fingers over the pure muscle there and then poked at the abs with a smile on his face. He could definitely get used to this body, he thought as he ran his hands all over his front. He was about to reach down to stick his hands into the sweatpants but Steve's words rang through his head.

  "Steve?" Tony jumped out of bed and ran to follow after Steve; his heart wasn't feeling quite right.

  "What Tony?" came the irritable reply from the kitchen.

  "Is there something wrong with your heart? It feels all jittery and I feel like I want to jump out of an airplane and go skydiving or something—maybe a Halo Jump, that'd be so cool!" Tony was grinning but he saw Steve sitting there finishing the Chinese, most likely from last night. Steve was scowling at him.

  "No, there's nothing wrong with my body Tony and you should know that. I have a higher metabolism, right now you're feeling the excess energy from sleeping. It's why I go for morning jogs, and you'll have to eat more too so don't you dare spend all day in that lab working or so help me Tony," Steve threatened him with a fork.

  "Steve I already told you that I'm not going to not take care of you, why would I do anything else? I don't touch what's not mine," Tony growled back and Steve actually looked shocked.

  "Says the playboy," Steve retorted.

  "Don't you dare go down that road," Tony started to pace a little, since Steve had come along, pacing was what he was doing more and more often.

  "Tony, go for a run and you'll feel better," Steve sighed and waved him off.

  "Yes mother," Tony spat and went back to Steve's room to change and then head out.

                Tony tried to keep a smile on his face when he jogged, he felt young again and it was a good feeling. There was no back pain and no bruised knuckles; that was all Steve's problem now. He felt the serum working away, keeping him from breathing hard or even sweating. He was three miles out and still feeling wonderful. But there was something nagging at the back of his mind, something he felt the need to do.

  "Steve! Oh Steve, there you are, good morning deary!" An older woman waved to him and stopped him from his run. He was going to tell her to get lost but then suddenly remembered that he wasn't Tony Fucking Stark anymore, he was Steve Rogers…well at least the body was. He smiled at her and approached.

  "Good morning ma'am, did you need help?" Tony asked, imitating his best.

  "Oh stop it with the ma'am stuff, I told you to call me Carrie. Come if you'll please, I need help with my groceries," she pointed to the four big brown bags that were brimming with groceries.

  "Sure thing Carrie," he smiled and bent down to pick up all four with ease. She held on his arm and he was about to cross the street but a huge eighteen wheeler sped by almost taking his arm off, honking.

  "You remember to look both way's sweetie?" she actually giggled and he just grinned.

  "Haven't been feeling quite well this morning, guess it slipped my mind. Okay, we're clear," he looked both ways and finally helped her across the street. She led him into a yard that was surrounded by a white picket fence with flower along the border. The house was an ivory color with blue shutters, oh god, it was something out of what Tony figured Steve dreamt of. He seemingly was staring a little too long because now Carrie was pulling at him to come inside. He cleared his throat and nodded to follow her.

  "Uh—anything else I can assist you in Carrie?" Tony found himself saying once he set the groceries down for her.

  "Oh no, thank you so much Steve, you're such a kind and wonderful person," she smiled up to him and it broke Tony's heart. He smiled back to her and said his goodbye. He left her and continued on his jog, thinking more now.

                He wasn't a good person, he'd never been a good person and now that he was someone good, he wasn't really them. Sure he was Tony, but on the outside he was still Steve and it pained him to think that it was only this body's instincts to help that made him do so. It wasn't of his own accord, he might have helped the lady across the street but she never would have asked him if he'd been in his own body.

                Tony found himself back at the mansion within the hour; he entered and was overthrown with the smell of eggs, bacon and toast. He followed his nose to the kitchen where his old body was huddled over the stove scrambling eggs.

  "What's cooking, honey?" Tony joked as he sat down at the table and awaited the food.

  "Do not call me that Tony," Steve growled, he was still angry from earlier.

  "Why are you so touchy? It was just a joke."

  "Tony, everything is damned joke to you and it's not funny anymore," Steve glanced over his shoulder at him.

  "Anymore, that means they were funny before—"

  "One time Tony, only once!" Steve interrupted as he slid the plate across the table to Tony.

  "How the heck am I going to eat all this—oh never mind," Tony said to himself as he dug in and found he was actually starving. The pair were silent while Tony ate his food, relishing in the wonderful taste of the toast; he liked toast, always had. "So how do you like your new body?"

  "I'd rather not give my opinion," Steve said as he sat down across from Tony and drank some milk. Tony crinkled his nose, he hated milk and what it did to his digestive system.

  "Why, afraid to hurt my feeling's Cap? Come on, I can take it," Tony said.

  "Tony, you don't take care of yourself!" Steve started and Tony realized that this was going to get ugly. "You don't eat when you're supposed to like a normal human being, and don't even try telling me that you're not a normal human because you are Tony, you are! And how long have you been dealing with this back pain? You should have seen a doctor about it Tony, it could ruin your spinal cord one day and then what are you going to do? You won't be any good to the team; you won't be able to fly the Iron Man suit Tony. You need to start exercising your muscles; you can't stay in your workshop all day long and expect to be able to lift a hundred pound weight Tony. You've got cricks in your knees; don't even get my started on your eyesight!" Steve was definitely fuming by the end of this and Tony had realized about half way through that he had stopped eating.

  "Has the thought even occurred to you that I'm getting old? Yes my eyesight is getting bad, Steve I'm forty years old, I'm bound to have cricks in my knees. The back injury was from Afghanistan so I'd rather not talk about it, fuck you very much," Tony spat, the swear word felt foreign in this mouth and then even worse when Steve slapped him across the cheek. The sting of it went away remarkably fast though.

  "Don't you dare start swearing while you've got my body, Tony," Steve said and stalked out of the room, probably to go take a shower.

Tony looked down at his food feeling bad. He didn't want to let Steve down, he wanted to take care of the body that he was in but he was getting old, getting too old for this stuff. He finished eating before wandering up to Steve's room to find him curled on the bed. Tony sighed at the sleeping form, now he really felt bad.

                Tony sat down at the edge of the bed and leaned over to see that Steve was still asleep, he knew his body and he knew that Steve wasn't going to be waking up any time soon. Tony sighed and shook his head. He stood up and went to the drawer where he knew Steve kept his shirts and pants. He took out khaki's and a black shirt and then went into the bathroom that was connected to Steve's room.

                The shower was warm, too warm so Tony asked JARVIS to reset it to cool down his body. Tony didn't feel much like actually showering but he let the water run down the tanned body as one hand pressed against the tiles of the shower. He finally got over his guilt and all around bad feeling and washed up. He kept his eyes front the entire time and didn't go near any important parts as he let Steve's words ring through his head.

                Tony sat down on the chair next to Steve's bed after he'd gotten dressed in normal clothing. He looked at his former body, he was finally with Steve in the same room and yet he didn't feel remotely compelled to start anything. He started at the sleeping body and rubbed his face. When had things gone so wiry?

                Tony watched Steve slowly wake up, very much confused and then the headache started. Steve groaned and turned on his side to face Tony, but he didn't realize he was there.

  "You're awake," Tony stated quietly and Steve looked up to him. "Here, for the headache and back pain," Tony handed him three Tylenol's and a glass of water. Steve sat up and took the meds, "You know, I have a theory for why this happened," Tony grinned, trying to get a lighter mood of this situation. When Steve nodded to him, he continued, "The gods hate us," Tony nodded with a bit of a smile on his lips but Steve didn't look even the slightest amused.

  "God doesn't hate anyone," he replied and tried to stand up but his legs gave out. Tony lunged out to catch him and put him back on the bed.

  "Can't just jump out of bed anymore…and you sound so sure," Tony commented as Steve shot him a glare but it was softened by something. Tony couldn't figure it out anyway.

  "God, Tony, all these numbers…how do you live like this?" Steve rubbed at his face and slumped his shoulders.

  "They've always been there so how would I know any other way to live? Get a tablet and start writing them down so I can work with them after we change back," Tony replied.

  " _You_ sound so sure," Steve commented this time and Tony looked into his eyes for a moment.

  "Stop worrying so much Steve, you're making my face crinkle. We'll change back, just give it time," Tony patted Steve's leg and left him to go down to the workshop. Tony wanted to find out if he could reform the Iron Man suit to fit his new body.

                Nothing went as planned as Tony worked with the numbers. His brain wasn't responding like he wanted it to do and it was frustrating the hell out of him. He knew they were going to have to battle at some point, he was going to have to be Captain America and that should have excited him, but it didn't. He didn't want to be stuck on the ground again, not after feeling the freedom that flying had to offer. Tony closed his eyes and was suddenly faced with a flashback from Afghanistan and he quickly reopened them to stop it.

  "Hey," Steve interrupted him and nearly scared him when he appeared next to him. Tony nodded and flipped the equation in front of him and finally just scratched at his head wondering what was going wrong. Steve took a look at it and switched some of the numbers; the simulation roared to life. Tony huffed and then groaned as he moved away from the worktable to the couch.

  "How are you feeling?" Steve asked as he sat down next to Tony and looked at him.

  "Useless. I can't calibrate the armor to fit this body and none of the formulas are working anymore," Tony turned his head away from Steve to look at a stain on the floor.

  "Maybe you should go to the gym instead, I usually like to punch the punching bags around a few times. We should finish working on my shield though…in case a battle comes up," Steve said and Tony ignored him.

  "You could teach me how to use the suit," Steve said quietly and Tony looked up, alarm written across his face once more.

  "No," Tony deadpanned.

  "Look, I know you don't want me to use the suit but with the way I see it, I'm going to need to use Iron Man if we get a mission. You realize that Iron Man—although you're reckless and stupid, you are valuable to the team, we need you," Steve said, talking both about Iron Man and Tony. Tony was having a tough time with this decision, he knew what he had to do but he also knew what he wanted to do. He finally had to give in.

  "Fine," Tony groaned and Steve patted him on the leg.

                Tony spent an hour explaining to Steve how to fly the suit and what he had to do in order to fire the repulsor beams, then the testing came about. Steve happened to be a natural flyer, well Tony just attributed that to muscle memory and the ounce of his own brain left over with Steve. Steve had been completely ecstatic to fly, the same way Tony had been when he went out for his first successful flight. Tony felt his heart being torn out of his chest with anxiety and depression but mostly jealousy.

                Steve was out for the flight while Tony stayed behind and looked at the half finished shield in front of him.

  "This isn't fair!" Tony once again slammed his fist down on the table and tried to suppress some of his tears. He sat down hard in the chair and tangled his fingers into the blonde hair atop his head.

  "Sir, the Captain is returning from his flight," JARVIS informed him a few minutes later.

  "Great," Tony wiped his face and straightened himself out as Steve flew through the port and landed with an awkward stumble.

  "Wow, that was amazing!" Steve panted from the shear excitement as Tony waited for the machines to strip the suit from the body. Tony gave a half smile to Steve in response but otherwise stayed silent. His heart ached and felt sore from the jealousy. Steve seemed to notice and his smile faltered quickly.

  "Tony, are you alright?" Steve asked and that was when Tony felt as if he had been a puppy and Steve unknowingly kicked him right in the chest. Tony adverted his eyes and tried to figure out the formula that he'd been staring at before. "Tony?"

  "Yeah Steve I'm fine," Tony said quietly and went to go sit in his swivel chair, Steve followed.

  "Are you jealous?" Steve picked up on it right away and if Tony were an animal he would have bared his teeth at Steve and snapped ferociously. Instead he settled for a side long glance with a scowl. "You are!" Steve exclaimed and huffed.

  "Am not Steve, just go away. You've had your fun," Tony fiddled with a spare reactor that was lying in front of him; it was one of the older models that had burnt out.

  "For once, since the kidnaping you're finally grounded again and you get jealous over me and now you're angry at me…I don't see the logic in this one Stark," Steve leaned against the desk.

  "That's because you don't understand me," Tony growled at him, this time teeth nearly were barring as he stood back up to attempt to intimidate Steve with his height but he should have known better that it wouldn't work.

  "Oh I understand you plenty well Stark, drink when you find problems you can't solve and forget the world ever existed."

  "You seriously think that's all I do?"

  "I _know_ it's all you do," Steve snarled back and Tony had just about enough of it, Tony balled his fist and used all his force to punch Steve in the face, Tony's face technically. Tony felt horrified when he felt his fist come in contact with the bearded face and he watched his old body fall prey to the hit and clatter to the ground harshly. Steve quickly clutched his face in pain and looked up to find Tony's horrified look on his face, it was the same look that Steve wore only yesterday morning.

  "Steve, I—" Tony started but stopped himself when his voice sounded so small that it even pained his own heart to hear it.

  "Just get out," Steve said quietly, trying to sit back up, still holding his aching cheek.

  "Cap—"

  "I said get out," Steve repeated and Tony hightailed it out of the workshop, his heart fluttering in pain as he quickly ascended the stairs to go to the only other place he figured he'd be alright. He entered the gym, he came here more frequently than Steve knew but it just wasn't during normal people hours was all.

  "Hey Steve," Natasha greeted him from the punching bag. He went over to talk to her.

  "It's Tony," he told her and she stopped her punching to look at him.

  "Yeah, what about Tony?"

  "No, I'm Tony," he tried to tell her and she just raised her eyebrow.

  "Steve, when was the last time you got your brain checked out?" she chuckled as she unwrapped her gloves.

  "No, Nat, I'm actually Tony Stark. Steve and I woke up in each other's body, we don't know how it happened but it did and now we're stuck like this. I feel like Loki might be to blame but I really can't say," Tony told her and she stopped what she was doing to look up at him.

  "Loki, what makes you think Loki would be responsible? He's holed up in Asgards unescapable prison," she said, continuing to unwrap her gloves and then set them down on the bench, she followed as she looked up at Steve's form.

  "Well…last night after Steve and I fought…again, I was sort of angry and…well, depressed—I guess that's the right word. Anyway, I might have wished that I could be Steve for a day to feel what it felt like to be good and have people appreciate you and tell you they're proud of you," Tony choked up at the end and quit talking since he knew it was best for him. He watched as Natasha examined him from her seat and finally patted the bench next to her for him to sit; he did as he was told.

  "So you're Tony, and Steve is he still in there or is he in your body?" she asked.

  "He's in mine and he hates it, just as much as I do," Tony huffed.

  "So it's been like this since morning then? Nothing unusual happened to you two yesterday?" she asked as she turned his new body towards her to start examining him starting with his face. She checked his eyes and continued on with his new features as they talked.

  "Nothing unusual unless you count him throwing me across my workshop yesterday morning and today I just did the same thing to him…that's why I'm here," Tony said quietly.

  "St—Tony, why?" she asked.

  "He just…he—I really don't know. He infuriates me, I was teaching him to use Iron Man since you know, and if we get an invasion we'll kind of need that. So he goes out for his test flight, comes back and tells me I'm jealous, reminds me of Afghanistan and insults me, what is left for there to be done? He mind as well have just stabbed me in the back five times," Tony growled, he stopped talking when Natasha opened his mouth and whipped out a small flashlight from who knows where and looked in to make sure everything was alright.

  "I would say that you need to stop being so insensitive but then again, you're both being too sensitive to each other," she commented.

  "Am not!" Tony replied and it confirmed Natasha's argument as she raised her eyebrow. Tony sighed and let her inspect his hands and reflexes. "So what do I do? I'm not going to apologize to him, for once he actually hurt me," he told her.

  "Let him brew, he'll get over it and eventually come out of his hole, when he does try to listen to him—no I mean really listen, park your butt down and listen, none of that cutting him off to say what you want to say," she told him and scolded when he was about to retort that he did listen. He stayed silent as she let go of him and sat back to look.

  "So what's the diagnosis?" he asked quietly and she shrugged.

  "You're fully in control of his body but it's your mind, like someone literally moved your brain into his body and vice versa. However it seems that the heart is still his, you haven't confessed this much to me since you drank that whole case of bourbon I got you for Christmas," she grinned and he rolled his eyes  before stopping to stare at the floor, realizing now why he'd helped Carrie.

  "So that's why I did it," Tony mumbled and shook his head as he sat forward again.

  "Did what?" she asked.

  "I went for the run today as per Steve's instructions and I thought I could do something nice, this little old lady; Carrie, called me to help bring her groceries in and so I did. But, she thanked Steve, not me. I thought that it was me who helped her but I was wrong, it was Steve's heart all along," Tony shook his head as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees and hang his head.

  "Stark, you are a good man you just need a little push every now and then. Just because you have Steve's heart doesn't mean it wasn't you who decided to help her," she tried to reason with him as he continued to shake his head.

  "No, it wasn't me. I don't go out for jogs to help little old women across the road with their groceries. I wouldn't have even been able to lift them all had it not been for Steve's body," he sat back up to look at her.

  "So where does that put you now?" she asked quietly and he sighed.

  "I don't know, I figured maybe punching the bag would help get some anger out. I know Steve comes down here after every one of our fights if he hasn't already thrown me across the room himself," Tony shrugged and looked across the gym to just daze off in think-land.

  "Have you tried your usual crunching numbers?" she asked and read the look on his face before he even spoke.

  "That's how I got into this mess, I couldn't complete the f—stupid equation, Steve comes sauntering in, flips it and the darn thing works. And then the whole…issue happened," Tony trailed off.

  "I see," she nodded, "I know you aren't going to like it Tony but you two need to work together if this will ever get fixed," she patted his leg as she stood up. Tony groaned and clapped his hands once as he stood up as well.

  "Great pep talk Nat, that's exactly what I needed to hear right now," he said extremely sarcastically and she just smiled politely at him.

  "Just give him some time."

  "How much time?"

  "He'll let you know when it's time," she said before retiring to the showers to get cleaned up after her work out.

  "What the heck does that even mean," Tony grumbled to himself as he figured out what he wanted to do. He felt the urge to draw something and if he couldn't work in his workshop he could at least draw up some blueprints. He hadn't manually drawn them since junior high but it seemed like a good idea to get his brain preoccupied at least. He grabbed a pencil and some paper from the paper supply Jarvis kept, he went downstairs to the kitchen where it was the best open space and table space available to him at the moment. He successfully avoided everyone else in the living room and sat down at the table to draw up some schematics.

                It felt like hours by the time Tony was done drawing up some sketches, he wasn't even sure if the machine would work but for that he would need his workshop which was currently being occupied. He sighed and looked at the clock, around an hour and twenty minutes had passed and someone finally came into the kitchen; Bruce was looking for some of his tea.

  "Hey Steve," he greeted as he came in and went to the stove. Tony sighed.

  "I'm not Steve, I'm Tony. We woke up with our bodies switched and we've got no idea how," Tony gave him the short and Bruce just sort of stared.

  "Tony," Bruce pointed at him, "and Steve?" Bruce pointed over his shoulder; Tony looked over to see Steve approaching looking tired and sporting the horrible bruise on his cheek.

  "Yeah," Steve nodded went to the cabinet to get himself a glass of water.

  "No mischievous gods came to visit, did they?" Bruce asked since it was everyone's assumption now since Loki had come to town.

  "No Loki's locked away in Asgard," Tony replied and the three went silent. Bruce was quietly observing both of them as Steve drank the water. "You should put ice on it," Tony said quietly to Steve. Steve ignored him; put his glass on the counter and walked towards his room this time. Tony knew it pained Steve, he knew all too well how it felt when Steve's body came in contact with his old one. Tony grumbled to himself as he picked up his pencil and papers and went down to his workshop, Bruce in tow since he wanted to know more about what was going on.

                Tony spent the next two and a half hours with Bruce; they talked about what had happened and the probable and not probable causes of it. They came up inconclusive without further evidence and called it a day when Tony was getting hungry for lunch since it was passed Steve's normal lunch time. Tony followed Bruce back upstairs where Bruce continued to cook up a fantastic meal including chicken parmesan and brown rice.  Tony had never felt so stuffed in his life; it felt good to eat warm and nutritional food for a change.

                Tony didn't see Steve again until it was nighttime and Tony was preparing for bedtime since he was pretty tuckered out from the day's events. Steve said nothing to him as they passed each other and Tony went upstairs to his Master bedroom. He felt completely awkward when he started to undress except for his boxers, it was like undressing a person you didn't know and weren't even going to have sex with them or anything. He felt like a teenager again, that awkwardness and uncertainty, he hated it. He forced himself to sleep but he couldn't force the nightmares out of his head.

                Tony woke up sweating in the middle of the night and ready to vomit from the nightmares; he was drowning and burning in the desert of Afghanistan in his dream. There was an element of vividness to his dreams that he didn't normally have, he figured it must have been Steve's body that enhanced the colors and feelings that he couldn't shake off. He sat up and put his hand over where the arc reactor would be and pushed himself to the edge of the bed to sit upright and try to remember to breathe.

  "Sir, Mister Rogers is in the kitchen and asked how you were feeling. Shall I tell him you are awake or would you like to tell him yourself?" Jarvis said quietly overhead so as to not startle his creator.

  "Tell him I'm still asleep because that's where I'm going to be," Tony growled as he rolled over and laid back down under the covers to try to sleep more. As soon as he drifted into sleep the nightmares started again, this time it was that one fateful night that he'd never forget and couldn't because of his back injury. He woke himself up this time gasping as he quickly jumped out of bed and ran for his bathroom to promptly vomit in the toilet. He was thankful his aim was spot on as he crumpled up and whimpered between convulsions. Jarvis thankfully was in charge of the toilets too and gently flushed them knowing that Tony wouldn't have the strength left in him. Tony reached over to the toilet paper to rip off a section and wipe his mouth. When he deemed himself done he tried standing slowly, he gripped the toilet seat to get up on his feet first, bent over he slowly let go of the toilet to hang on the counter and help himself stand up right slowly. He groaned when he felt nauseous again but it wasn't enough to make him need to vomit again.

  "Shall I start the coffee for you sir?" Jarvis asked and Tony just stood there trying to get feeling back in his body. His back felt sore but he knew it was just his mind playing tricks on him, he still took his free hand to absentmindedly rub at it though as he finally started to feel the sickness go away. He sighed and looked at himself in the mirror, or rather the reflection of Steve. He knew what it felt like to be Steve now, waking up with a different body and not recognizing yourself in the mirror; it was scary.

  "Sir?" Jarvis asked, pulling him out of his mind again.

  "What?"

  "Should I start the coffee for you?"

  "No," Tony said quietly, thinking, "no, I really don't feel like seeing Steve right now," he said as he found his strength again and left the bathroom; Jarvis turned the light out when he stepped out. He went back over to his bed and debated trying to sleep again but the thought of nightmares turned him off to the idea. He felt a shiver up his spine and started to feel kind of cold so he decided to put on some sweatpants and a sweatshirt, well until he realized that none of his old clothes would fit this body. That meant he had to talk to Steve, he felt a ping in his heart and it hurt, he rubbed at his open chest and fought with himself on whether or not he really wanted to see Steve and if it was worth it. He finally figured out it was worth it.

  "Jarvis, is there something wrong with your heating system?" Tony asked as he pulled on the pants from yesterday and padded down the hallway.

  "There is nothing wrong but I detect that you are still traumatized by that certain event, this can cause your brain to want to experience things that your body isn't doing. For example, you are thinking about cold water right now which makes you feel cold, but it is only your mind playing tricks, sir," Jarvis replied and Tony grumbled as he walked down the flight of stairs and looked down the hall on his right, he debated going into Steve's room and not telling him or just sucking it up to go talk to him. Tony shook his head and went right down to Steve's room, the door was wide open and it was empty so he walked right in and went through Steve's drawers to find what he was looking for. Once he found them he quickly shimmied out of the plans to pull up the sweatpants and over the sweat shirt, feeling warm and secure in them. He picked up the pants and let the muscle memory do the rest; he watched as he neatly folded the plans and placed them on the bureau.

  "What are you doing here?" his own voice startled him and he looked up to find Steve looking at him through the door.

  "I—I was just cold so I came to get some sweatpants," Tony told him and Steve furrowed his brow.

  "Cold? Why are you cold?" Tony came in to inspect his old body but didn't get too close.

  "No reason, just am," Tony didn't feel like talking to him so he tried to scoot passed and made it out the door at least until Steve caught him by the back of the sweatshirt to stop him.

  "Are you okay?" Steve asked and Tony turned to just stare at him.

  "Are you freaking kidding me? You waltz in like you were even born in this century and then you remind me of the one thing, the one event that I want to—I _need_ to forget and then you ask me if I'm okay. No I'm not fucking okay and you should know better," Tony yelled at him, furious now. "My god, I'm even talking like you now. You know what, no I'm fine, I'm better than fine so why don't you just fuck off Rogers and leave me alone," Tony growled at him and stomped his way up the stairs like a little kid and back to his room.

  "Finely handled sir," Jarvis commented.

  "Shut up," Tony said as he slammed his door for the finale and went back up to his bed. He laid back down, this time in the warm clothing and the blanket on top of him he was able to drift into a dreamless sleep. When he woke up though, he felt none the fresher than he had before.

  "Shall I make your coffee now, sir?" Jarvis asked when Tony was fully awake but already grumbling about the morning.

  "Yes," he answered anyway as he got up and padded across his room towards the door and down to the kitchen which was currently unoccupied to his delight; if he could be delighted that was. Every time he closed his eyes he was confronted with scenes and images from the kidnapping, it was starting to frighten him too. He gratefully took his coffee and started to sip the warm liquid, a voice from behind scared him.

  "Tony?" Natasha was asking.

  "Yeah," Tony replied sorrowfully and she nodded.

  "Have you talked to Steve at all?"

  "If you count me yelling at him last night, yeah, yeah I did," he replied and left her company to the living room to just sit on the couch, cuddled up to drink his coffee. He was unfortunately disturbed by his former body coming into the room.

  "Hey," Steve greeted quietly and carefully.

  "Don't even talk to me," Tony growled at him and Steve quickly left knowing it wasn't a good time. Tony sighed inwardly and leaned his head against the couch, he could feel his—Steve's heart fluttering in his chest but it wasn't the same flutter he felt yesterday with the pent up energy, this time it almost hurt because it was fluttering so much. He rubbed at his chest again and took another sip of his coffee.  He almost threw the coffee when slender hands started to massage at his shoulder.

  "Quiet Stark, you need to relax," Natasha told him as she expertly dug into the tense muscle mass.

  "I can't Nat, every time I close my eyes I see it," Tony told her, he set his coffee down on the table and tried to pull away from her, no matter how good it felt.

  "Then don't close your eyes," she told him from behind the couch as she moved her hands up to his hair, she knew all too well it was his weak spot. Tony groaned quietly and leaned back at the touch, it was something he'd never get sick of. He closed his eyes and mouth as he breathed through his nose and tried to relax at the touch. She knew exactly how to manipulate his pressure points into feeling good, he moaned happily and took a deep breath. He hated when the skillful hands left his body slowly and felt her bend down to kiss the top of his head and left.

                Tony slept peacefully for an hour, when he woke up he felt so much better; he was still angry with Steve but that wasn't such an issue any more. He rubbed at his sleepy eyes when he did wake up, he looked around to find no one and sat up to grab his cold coffee.

  "Jarvis? Coffee," he said as he went to get up but was suddenly presented with a cup of hot coffee, "oh," he looked up to see Steve offering it almost as a peace offering. Tony took it by eyed it suspiciously.

  "I didn't poison it," Steve said rolling his eyes as he left back to the kitchen. Tony carefully took a sip of the hot coffee and relished in the heat he felt spiral through his body. He sighed happily with the good beverage and drank more of the peace offering. He sat there for a while thinking and waiting for something to happen as he drank his coffee, he was glad that Steve didn't come back to berate him or anything. That was when the Avengers alarm went off, Tony jumped off the couch, set his coffee down and went to run to his lab but ran right into Steve except he barely felt it while Steve was knocked back a few steps. They both looked at each other and sighed, Steve went down to the lab and Tony went to Steve's closet where he knew everything was kept. He swiftly put the gear on, grabbed the shield and ran out to meet the team in the locker where the QuintJet was kept.

  "Um Iron Man, Cap, maybe you two should stay here for this one I'm sure we can handle Doom Bots on our own," Natasha said to them. Clint had just come back from a 'vacation' as he called it but an assignment by SHIELD, he nodded to the two of them having been briefed on the situation by Bruce and Natasha.

  "No," they boy replied and glanced at each other but didn't fight about it. "We can still be useful," Tony told them. Natasha looked between the two of them and sighed.

  "As long as _you_ act like Captain American and _you_ act like Iron Man," she pointed to each and they nodded. The team boarded the QuintJet and quickly took off.

  "So what do we do about Fury and these two?" Clint asked, polishing his bow.

  "We don't, just act like normal and he'll never know," Natasha said, piloting the plane towards the city center. The team nodded in agreement to each other, Tony settled for the ride which was only going to be a few minutes anyway. He sat there thinking about how much more he was feeling like Captain America than Iron Man. It was scaring him the more he thought about it, what if he stayed Captain America forever with the promise not to touch himself? God, he was going to die from blue balls, wait, with the serum was it even possible for Captain America to die from that? Tony's mind was so preoccupied with these thoughts that he didn't realize they had arrived at the scene.

  "Captain—Captain, you alright?" Clint clapped Tony on his shoulder and woke him from his trance.

  "Wha—? Oh yeah, yeah, alright team, let's go," Tony ushered everyone out. "Clint, you're up on the roof; keep the roads clear. Thor in the air, try to fry those bots with anything you've got. Widow, you're with me, Bruce keep a block perimeter and Clint make sure he says there," Tony said without even thinking. Planning…that wasn't something Iron Man did. Speaking of Iron Man.

  "Where did Steve go?!" Tony swirled around and scowled at his former suit already zooming off to shoot Bots. "Damnit Iron Man, you stay with us! Don't get yourself into trouble!" Tony yelled into the com and there was a Tony Stark signature chuckle on the line from Steve.

  "Feels good to let go, I see why you do it all the time Tony," Steve said into the com and Tony literally growled as the Avengers ran out to shut down the Bots.

                The battle didn't go as planned, well as Tony planned at least. The Hulk accidentally let one of the smaller Bots out of his perimeter and Clint had to leave his building to fight on the ground to protect a group of civilians.

  "Captain, use the shield!" Steve yelled to Tony as he landed roughly next to his Captain America.

  "No, Iron Man, your repulsors; use the blast to hit their main frames!" Tony yelled back as he smashed one of the cronies in its head. Steve suddenly grabbed onto Captains America's shield and smashed the robot with Tony's arm still in it. Tony grabbed Steve's hand and pointed the beam at another bot and commanded JARVIS to fire. The repulsor beam hit dead center.

  "Iron Man, Captain America; stop hugging each other and get to it!" Widow yelled at them, Tony realized their arms were crossed and tugged away from Steve who immediately let go as well and jumped into the air once more to fly off. Tony grumbled about hugging Steve but got on with the fighting and directing.

                More fighting, Hulk threw Captain America through one of the bots and cleared it right out. Thor had been M.I.A. for a few minutes but he was back with a full force of lightning to fry the bastards but they had become resistant to his lightning.

  "Iron Man, watch your six!" Tony yelled as he dove behind him and protected him with the shield.

  "Hey thanks Cap, you like lookin' at my ass?" Steve joked and Tony never thought it possible but right then and there, he blushed. It was then that he realized Steve was feeling more like Iron Man as well, he didn't like the equations that ran through his brain at that moment, ones that showed the possible outcome of their situation. He looked to his left in distraction and saw one of the cronies getting his gun ready.

  "Steve!" Tony yelled out before he side stepped and that was all he remembered.

\--

                Tony woke up with a small headache that was beginning to reside as he felt the serum working through his body. He could feel the serum actually working overtime as it tried to heal his body, from what though he wasn't quite sure. He groaned when the headache finally dissipated and looked to the side of his bed where he sensed someone was sitting.

  "Tony?" the voice asked as Tony opened his eyes and had to wait a few moments as they focused to see Bruce sitting next to him. "Hey, how are you feeling?" Bruce smiled, shutting the book he was reading.

  "Like I was hit with a freight train," Tony chuckled as Bruce stood up to take out his stethoscope to check Tony out and make sure he was alright. Tony looked down at his uncovered chest that was wrapped up in white ace bandage. "What happened?"

  "You are lucky you're in Steve's body is what happened. You stepped in front of Steve and took a bullet for him," Bruce answered quietly as he listened to Tony's heart. Tony could feel his heart skip a few beats at the mention and he was starting to feel the pain from his wound, it wasn't terrible but more like a slow ache. "You had us worried for a while; you've been out for around five hours, that's a record for Steve's body for a mere bullet wound."

  "Mere? You make it sounds like this was nothing!" Tony lifted his eyebrow.

  "Well to Steve it isn't, I mean, his body. He's taken worse beatings in his life that he was up and running at this time. I hope the serum is still working the same amount…" Bruce trailed off in thought as he took the stethoscope away and put it around his neck like a real doctor.

  "So I should be fine to get up and work then, right?" Tony asked, already pulling himself up to sit up but Bruce caught him and pushed him back down.

  "As I was just saying, you've still got some recovering to do. Sleep for a few more hours and then you should be fine," Bruce told him sternly and left the room, Tony sighed deeply and felt his eyelids get heavy with the mention of sleep and how good is sounded right now. So that's just what he did, drifted off into sleep land not to be woken for another two hours and ten minutes.

  "Sir, should I cut off Mister Rogers's supply of your personal alcohol?" Jarvis asked which really woke Tony up.

  "What do you mean cut him off; he shouldn't have been allowed to touch it in the first place!" Tony groaned as he got up, he was still a little sore as he sat at the edge of the bed and hung his feet there while he got his head in order.

  "I'm very sorry sir, I was preoccupied with monitoring your condition," Jarvis replied and Tony rolled his eyes.

  "We both know you can monitor as many places as you want at the same time—damnit—cut him off," Tony stepped onto the floor. He clutched his stomach where the wound was, more pressure from the upper half of his body sitting on the wound didn't feel good but he pressed on. He found the clean set of clothes and promptly dressed himself and set out to find Steve.

  "He is currently crying in the living room," Jarvis informed him and Tony sighed as he journeyed down to the room. He could hear the stifled sobs before he even got into the room, Tony took a deep breath before entering to find Steve curled on the couch.

  "Steve," Tony said as he went around and into Steve's view. Steve quickly looked up and scrambled to get up and hug his old body. Tony gave a pained yelp when Steve attacked him a little too hard, sending them both falling back into the love couch, Tony was thankful it was there at least.

  "Tony, I'm s—so sorry I didn't save you, I'm so sorry about hurting you and being rude and making you mad. I never meant any of that, it's just because I didn't understand and I didn't know how to tell you I loved you! You're all I think about Tony," Steve sobbed on him as they laid on the couch, well half on and half off technically.

  "Wow you _are_ really drunk," Tony grumbled, still in pain from nearly being punched with a human in his wound.

  "No Tony, I really mean it, I love you," Steve said before reaching up to kiss Tony. Tony wanted so badly to kiss back and be loved by Steve but he knew better.

  "Steve it's just the drink talking, you should go to bed. You don't really mean that," Tony tried to sit up and push Steve off him; he found it wasn't very hard to move his old body away. But Steve was persistent, he came back to kiss him again and tried to undo the buckle of Tony's pants. "No, Steve, stop!" Tony caught his hands and pulled away from the drunken kiss once more and pushed forward. Steve fell backward pulling Tony with him so they landed on the floor, just narrowly missing the coffee table. Tony got back up on all fours but made sure to hold Steve's wrists away from him; he had to admire how small his old wrists were in his new grip. Steve instead wrapped his legs around Tony and pulled him down to rub them together.

  "Stop, stop, no Steve, you can't do that," Tony gasped; he could feel the start of his throbbing erection and nearly turned red in the face with the force as he tried to control him.

  "I was so happy when they said you would live," Steve admitted as Tony was able to get out of his grasp and finally up on his feet.

  "And _this_ is how you celebrate? By getting drunk?" Tony growled at him and Steve actually giggled up at him as he continued to lay there.

  "I've never been drunk before," Steve looked up at him, half lidded eyes.

  "Yeah well, karma's a bitch. You're going to wake up with the nastiest of hangovers in the morning, will you still like me then?" Tony asked, standing there almost ready to give way to his tears. His heart was breaking as he watched his old body lay on the floor, was this what he was like on a constant basis? He knew once they were back to their own bodies, he vowed to never be like that again.

  "Tony, damnit, I know you want me too, you've been pining for months now and all those damn arguments we had, I know why! I know why we argue, we both just don't understand and it's the only thing we know how to do around each other! I get it!" Steve scrambled to get up, almost falling back down on the coffee table but was able to use his momentum to push himself back up and right into Tony to hug him again. "I know you love me too so just say it!"

  "Steve please don't—okay, okay, yes I like you. I like you a lot but not like this, I can't do anything to you like this—I can't Steve," Tony broke away from him and Steve just looked like a sad puppy that had been kicked. "You need to go to bed Steve, you'll feel better and you'll think straight in the morning."

  "But I'm not sleepy," Steve whined as he allowed himself to be pushed towards his bedroom. Tony helped him into the room and closed the door as he helped him out of his clothing so Steve didn't fall. Steve didn't try anything else during that time and allowed himself to be tucked into bed.

  "Tony?" Steve asked, his voice small and Tony recognized this phase.

  "Yes, Steve?" he answered when he looked down at himself on the bed, just laying there on his side.

  "Will you stay with me?" he asked and Tony sighed.

  "Alright Steve, just go to sleep," Tony sat in the chair next to Steve's bed, Steve was quiet for a while, he shifted more to his side where Tony also found the most comfort sleeping when he was in his normal body. Steve soon dropped off into his alcohol induced sleep.

                Sleep didn't take Tony that night; he stayed up and again was lost in himself. Steve was right, he'd been pining after him for months, well technically years if you counted the hero worship days of his youth. He'd wanted to be with Steve Rogers since he met him, but now that they had swapped bodies it seemed very unreal and just downright wrong. Sure Tony could be narcissistic, but that didn't mean he'd want to fuck himself…well that was a lie too. He'd love to do it to see how it would feel to have all this raw energy and power from Steve's body, but it still felt wrong and he knew he shouldn't dwell on things like this. They were never going to happen anyway.

  "Have you stayed up all night?" a voice brought him out of his thoughts and he blinked. The sun was rising. Well, he hadn't expected to stay up all night but it seemed it happened and now Steve was awake, bloodshot eyes and all.

  "I uh—I was thinking," Tony shifted in the chair realizing he hadn't moved at all during the night. He could feel Steve's eyes on him, studying him but he didn't dare look over.

  "I'm sorry about last night," Steve whispered and Tony shifted his eyes to glance at him.

  "It's fine I didn't—"

  "God, Tony, you look traumatized," Steve cut him off and Tony felt a blush creep up his chest but he tried to keep his cool.

  "I'm not traumatized Steve, I was just…shocked," he shrugged and Steve sighed, "how much do you remember?"

  "All of it," Steve said, "hey uh…can you—can you help me to the bathroom? I don't think I can stand up on my own," Steve threw the covers back and shivered at the loss of warmth. Tony got up wordlessly and put his arm around Steve's smaller body and helped him up. They went across the hall and to the bathroom where Tony even had to hold him up while Steve went.

  "You haven't touched yourself yet, have you?" Steve asked as he was finishing.

  "I told you I wouldn't," Tony said defiantly and he saw Steve smile as he put himself away and flush the toilet.

  "Haven't even looked have you."

  "Do you really think I'm that low of a selfish bastard?" Tony squinted at him, trying to figure it all out.

  "You do kind of have that reputation you know," Steve shrugged as they moved over to wash his hands.

  "And you believe what everyone else says? I should have known better," Tony huffed and looked towards the door, angry again. He felt Steve finish drying his hands and move to face him but Tony didn't want to look, not yet.

  "No, I don't," Steve told him which made Tony look back. That was the moment Steve pulled him in to kiss him gently; he was afraid of startling Tony again but wanted this to happen. Tony didn't know quite what to do and was still trying to comprehend what Steve had just said. He moved his lips in conjunction with Steve's but pulled away when he started to think too hard.

  "Wait, you do or you don't believe what everyone else says?" he asked as he searched Steve's eyes to find something.

  "It doesn't matter what I—" Steve grinned as he tried to bring Tony back into the kiss but Tony stopped him.

  "Yes it does matter."

  "Tony," Steve looked at him and sighed, "I don't believe what they said. Sure I was given a list of events that had happened over the years and learned about all the media, who have not changed since my day I'll have you know. I knew not to trust them and make my own judgments. I also knew you were wearing a mask this entire time, it wasn't who you really were and every now and then I'd get a glimpse of the real you and it kind of made me melt inside…" Steve trailed off as they looked at each other, smiling at him as Tony started to smile back a little too.

  "Okay," Tony said reluctantly, his heart was doing that fluttering thing again, he reached up to rub at it. “Can…can we talk?” he asked, it was not was Steve was waiting for, but he nodded all the same.

  “I think I can walk on my own…maybe,” Steve let go of Tony and the pair stumbled across the hall, back to Steve’s room. Tony climbed up onto the bed and sat criss-cross against the pillow, Steve followed suit and climbed onto the bed to sit in front of Tony. “So…what should we start with?” Steve asked. “Actually—never mind, I’ll start,” he interrupted Tony who was about to start his story.

  “Tony, I am sorry for misjudging you before—I know I said that I make my own judgements, but I think it was tainted by everything else and…and this is all still so new to me. I don’t like being the man out of time, I didn’t know what I was supposed to do here and then you come into the picture,” Steve looked at him, Tony recognized the look of awe. “You—this crazy, sadistic, asshole of a man—“

  “I resent that,” Tony chuckled.

  “And I can’t help to think that I knew you, I knew your father and you are nothing like him as I thought you were. But it just wasn’t enough, I’ll be the first to say that…” Steve looked away, ashamed now, “I was scared to be here…everything so different and…strange I suppose,” he glanced to Tony who was giving him his full and undivided attention, “I had nothing to hang onto except you…you look so much like him that it startled me—I wasn’t sure what to think of you to be honest. And then you go and do…well, everything that you did and it just made me angry that you weren’t like your father, angry that you weren’t like a good friend to me. It hurt me—but don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t your fault, I see that now. It’s good that you aren’t like him,” Steve started to diminish his voice; he could see the wetness forming at Tony’s eyes. Tony quickly tried to discretely dry them, but it was pretty obvious when Steve was right in front of him. “I’m sorry Tony, I shouldn’t have compared you to him,” he finished and Tony had to break a sad smile at that, tears starting to gather a little more.

  “You know, the night before we switched, I wished that I could be you for a day,” he looked at Steve; a sad smile was still adorned. “I thought that—that if I could be you, then he’d come back and tell me he loved me and how—how proud he was to call me his son,” Tony burst into tears, bending forward to hide his face from Steve. He’d never even gone this road with Pepper when they were together; in fact, he’d only just recently admitted it to himself even. He found Steve moving to pick his shoulders up and slide onto Tony’s lap, enveloping him in the hug of his lifetime. “I’m sorry I got us into this mess somehow!” Tony blurted which only made Steve laugh and hug him tighter.

  “I’m glad you did,” he whispered and caressed Tony’s blonde hair. “I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to tell you that I love you, more than I’ve ever loved anyone. Tony, you’re this crazy whirlwind of a genius and you have monsters inside of you just like the rest of us, somehow, I love you for that and everything else stuck in that crazy head of yours. I can understand it now, I have this piece of you in my brain, I see these numbers fitting together and it all makes sense now,” he pulled away to frame Tony’s head in his hands and thumb away the tears, Steve wore a brilliant smile as he looked at Tony; this was his future. “You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met,” he grinned which made the corners of Tony’s lips jerk upwards slightly.

  “Thank you,” Tony replied, Steve laughed at him.

  “Of all the witty comebacks I’ve heard from you, all you can muster is a simple thank you?” Steve questioned, Tony huffed but smiled. “I do have to say, I look fantastic when I cry,” Steve added, softer which made Tony smile and try to duck his head, but Steve held onto him.

  “Steve?” Tony asked voice a little more harsh and deep.

  “Yes?”

  “Kiss me,” Tony ordered him to, he could see the excitement in Steve’s eyes. Steve quickly leaned forward to capture Tony’s lips. Tony sighed at the contact, tears were subsiding as their lips slid against each other. Steve opened his mouth and in that split second, Tony’s tongue delved into Steve’s which made the both of them moan on contact. Tony slipped his hands around Steve and pulled him closer.

                It felt like bliss to each of them, holding each other but feeling like they were spinning; it happened all in a second. Tony suddenly had a huge pounding headache and could feel his hands cupping Steve’s cheeks and Steve’s hands were on his hips; mindful of his past injury.

  "Steve!" he exclaimed and pulled back to look up at Steve, they were back in their own bodies and when Steve realized it the two of them smiled so widely and hugged each other. Tony was the first to pull away at the sudden ache all over his body. "Oh my fucking god Steve, what did you do to me?" Tony groaned as he started to lean backwards, falling off Steve’s lap to lay out on the bed starfish style; the obnoxious hangover hit him and hit him hard.

  "I'm sorry," Steve rubbed at the back of his neck before he wiped away the excess tears that Tony had fallen for him. Steve took Tony’s open invite to crawl above his boyfriend and lean down to kiss him again.

  "How do you feel?" Tony asked as he put his hand over the wound on Steve's stomach.

  "Sore but nothing I can't work through. I realized I never properly thanked you for saving my life, can I pay you like this?" he asked before leaning forward to kiss Tony again, licking each other's mouths out, mapping out uncharted territories that they each wished to claim for their own. Tony brought his hands up to Steve's hair to mess it up and then to cup his cheeks again as Steve had done for him.

  “Yeah,” Tony said, nearly out of breath with the kisses; not so much from the actual kiss, but because it was Steve who was doing the kissing. Steve grinned at him and then frowned.

  “Will you ever tell me about your back injury?” he asked, Tony snapped his eyes back up to Steve’s from where he’d been admiring the pectorals on top of him.

  “I—I was in Afghanistan…you remember reading about that? The kidnapping?” he asked, he figured that now was as best time of any.

  “Yes, I remember reading the report of it all, it stated nothing about a back injury that was so severe,” he gently lowered himself onto Tony’s body to get more comfortable.

  “That’s because I…I hacked the system and go rid of that part,” Tony looked away from Steve; Steve was like a security blanket over top him now and Tony certainly didn’t mind.

  “Why?”

  “Because, how would everyone take it if the world’s most number one playboy had been raped and back broken because of the result?” he blurted out, staring up to Steve and wondering what his super-soldier would do.

  “I knew they did horrible things to you Tony, but I never—“ Steve stopped himself and gently brought Tony into an enveloping hug, cradling his boyfriend carefully as he kissed Tony’s neck.

  “Thanks Cap,” Tony whispered to him, “just for the record, you’re never going to have me this open again unless it’s about sex—which we should do right now,” he continued when Steve let go, now it was Steve’s turn to have a wide-eyed expression adorned on his face. Tony grinned at him and pulled him back down into a kiss, Steve reciprocated and rolled over so Tony was on the top now.

  “How do you want to do it?” Steve asked, hands roaming all over the more slender figure before him, never so happy to be back in his own body.

  “Any which way you like big guy,” Tony sat up and grinned.


End file.
